I hope TPP will be ditched, and the practice of backroom lawmaking and undemocratic policy laundering will have much stronger opposition in the future.
It's reasonable to take issue with the contents of the TPP, but demanding a democratic open process would lead to no free trade deals at all
Sounds like a win-win.
The problem is, these deals aren't about trade, let alone about free one. They are about changing laws. And lawmaking hidden from the public is a very problematic idea.
> Try to do them democratically, and they simply won't get done
There is no need to make massive debates during development of these trade agreements. I agree, it can slow them down. But, they have to be done in public fashion, so when problems arise, they can be spotted right away and then criticized and fixed. That's something not just doable, but it was already practiced before.
> It's reasonable to take issue with the contents of the TPP, but demanding a democratic open process would lead to no free trade deals at all
You can't take an issue with it if: 1. you can't see it until it's too late. 2. there is no way to fix problems in it except axing the whole thing which is much much harder (fast track).
What is the point of having a democracy if the very principle of "rule by the people" gets subverted every time it presents an inconvenience?
Perhaps having a democratic open process is worth missing out on one of these deals.